


Reunion

by ANobleCompanion



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Car Accidents, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 04:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1844401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANobleCompanion/pseuds/ANobleCompanion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester doesn't get forever.  So when he realized that's exactly what he wanted with Castiel, he panicked, only to learn that there was more than one way he could lose the love of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WinJennster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinJennster/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Winjennster, tumblr wife extraordinaire! You deserve all the awesome! Thank you to Trekchik, tumblr wife of preciousness, for the beta!

It was stupid.  The fight started when Cas found the invitation to Dean’s fifteen year high school reunion.  It wasn’t for months down the road yet.  Eight to be exact.  It wasn’t as though Dean didn’t _want_ to go.  Part of him really did.  Part of him wanted to go back and be _that guy_.  The one that had been such a screw up in school.  The one voted most likely to fail.  

Literally.

Sam had told him later that there had actually been a bet going amongst the student body about whether he would fail or drop out first.  Apparently no one had put odds on him actually graduating.  Granted it had been by the skin of his teeth, but he’d done it.  

He’d never had any kind of solid relationship - romantic or otherwise.  Sure, enough people had been willing to go out with the resident rebel.  But usually it was just some girl - or guy - who went out with him as a statement to their parents.  He’d told himself at the time he didn’t care.  It didn’t matter.  It’s not like _he_ mattered.  

Fifteen years made a huge difference.  He wasn’t that kid anymore.  He had a decent job at shop that specialized in designing and fabricating custom parts for restored cars.  It wasn’t the most glamorous of positions, but he got to work with his hands - and even better, he got to sit down and create something from scratch, something that would give life back to a car that had been part of someone’s past and would now be part of someone’s future.  

And he had Cas.  

Cas had been a client.  Usually, requests for parts came from restoration shops.  There were times when an original part simply wasn’t to be found and they needed to have it specially made.  Cas though, Cas was different.  He was an engineer who’d decided to build a custom car from scratch, just for the hell of it.  And he’d had Dean make almost all the parts for him.  It had been a fascinating process.  Since Cas wasn’t using a base model, they’d often had to figure out what kind of parts would work best to give him the performance he wanted.  It was more than just copying an old hard-to-find part, it was creating something wholly unique.  

On more than one occasion, after they’d been working together for a few months designing the parts, Dean had come out to the garage Cas had rented for his personal project, and they’d worked on the car side by side.  

Over the course of those months, Dean and Cas had gotten to know each other well.  Dean started to dread the end of the project.  Of course the project would have to end, and he wouldn’t have a reason to see Cas anymore.  

Dean was fully aware how infatuated he was with Cas.  He also understood it was one-sided.  After all, Cas had a Masters’ degree.  He was a certified engineer.  Dean had barely graduated high school.  He’d gotten lucky with his job and he was good at it, but that’s all there was to him.  There was nothing about Dean that could attract someone like Cas beyond a little camaraderie over manual labor.  

But Cas had surprised him.  The day they’d put the final touches on Cas’s car, Cas had asked him to dinner on the pretext of giving it a test drive.  

That had been a little over seven months ago.  While Cas hadn’t actually moved in with Dean, he might as well have - he was over at Dean’s apartment more often than not, despite his own being nearly twice as large.   

One of Dean’s favorite sights was Cas’s face on the pillow next to his in the early morning, with the first rays of the sun highlighting the angles of his face.  

And then that damned invitation had come in the mail.  

Of course Dean wanted to take Cas.  He wanted to show his gorgeous, kind, and successful boyfriend off.  He wanted to tell all his naysayers about the job that he loved.  

But the reunion was still another eight months away.  It was as long as he and Cas had been together, and then some.  

Dean had never let himself think of him and Cas as long term.  Until then, he’d been content to live in the moment.  It wasn’t that he was afraid of commitment.  On the contrary, when Dean thought ahead, taking Cas to the reunion, he realized he didn’t want eight more months - he wanted forever.  

It wasn’t forever that terrified him.  It was the desire for it.  

Because forever was something Dean didn’t get.  Any time he started thinking of forever, it was ripped away from him - beginning with his mother at four years old.  If he let himself imagine forever with Cas, it was the most surefire way for Dean to lose him.  And Dean didn’t know if he could survive that.  

So he threw out the invitation.

Which would have been fine if Cas hadn’t found it.  

When he’d asked Dean about it, Dean had gotten defensive.  It wasn’t like he could admit the truth.  

“I don’t understand the issue, Dean,” Cas asked.  “It’s not like you have to go - I was just wondering why you were so against it?”

“High school wasn’t the greatest place for me, Cas.  Why would I want to go spend a night with a bunch of asshats who thought I was worthless?”

“People change, Dean.  You have.  Who knows, maybe you’ll reconnect with someone you’ve forgotten about.  Besides, if nothing else, we can go and have a blast making fun of how the popular kids have all gone to seed and wound up being everything they hate.”

And it was so close to the vision of everything he’d wanted, of what Dean himself had pictured of that potential night that he lashed out.  “Who’s to say we’d even be going together anyway, Cas?  It’s months from now.  Maybe I’ll have moved on by then.”

It was a slap in the face, an utter lie, and a complete impossibility.  No matter what happened between them, Dean would never move on from Cas.  He would belong to the other man for the rest of his life.  

But Dean saw the blue fire in Cas’s eyes cool to ice, and his voice was hard when he replied, “I know you don’t have a college education, Dean, but don’t be an idiot.”

Dean felt as if he’d been punched in the gut.  In one sentence, Cas had hit on the worst of Dean’s insecurities.  He was an idiot.  

Dean stumbled backwards towards the door, looking down, around, anywhere but at Cas.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he fumbled for the door handle behind him.  

“Dean…”

Dean heard a change in Cas’s tone, but he couldn’t interpret what it was.  He couldn’t think.  He just needed _out_.  Because it had finally happened.  Cas had seen him for what he was.  Not good enough.  

“I’m sorry,” he said again as he opened the door and backed out of the apartment into the hallway.  

“Dean, wait -”

But Dean was already down the hall and in the stairwell, the clatter of his feet bouncing off the walls, and drowning out any other potential sound.

He wondered if Cas was following him.  Even as he tried to distance himself from the man in the apartment above as quickly as he could, a perverse part of him hoped that he was.  He hoped that this wasn’t the end.  That this was just a fight.  Couples fought all the time.  They’d fought before.  Not like this but...maybe...maybe there was a chance Cas still wanted him, even if Dean wasn’t good enough.  

Right now, Dean needed space.  

Once he was a block away from his building, he stopped, unsure where to go from there.  He couldn’t go to Sammy’s.  If Cas did come looking for him - _please, God, let Cas come looking for him_ \- that would be the first place he would try.  And yeah, he could admit he wanted Cas to find him.  To seek him out and prove to Dean he still wanted him.  But not yet.  He needed to think first.  

So he turned left, a direction opposite from his normal life and therefore off his regularly beaten track.  

He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.  He pulled it out and glanced at the screen.  It was Cas.  Dean’s finger hovered over his boyfriend’s face, trying to decide whether or not to answer, when the call stopped.  Cas hadn’t even left a voicemail.  

Heart sinking into his stomach, Dean turned into the first bar he came across and ordered a whiskey, straight up.  

* * *

The bar closed down at two and Dean walked out, shoving his hands in his pockets to ward off the evening chill.  He still wasn’t sure where to go.  Cas hadn’t called again.  Apparently, he wasn’t concerned that Dean hadn’t come home that night.  

Although, Dean reasoned, Cas might not have stayed to find out.  Dean couldn’t remember the last night Cas hadn’t slept at Dean’s, but technically, he still had his own place.   

Both he and Cas were stubborn, and this was far from their first argument.  There had been nights when Cas had stormed off and chosen to sleep at his own place - though it hadn’t happened for at least two months. Dean admitted this one felt different and that scared him. In every instance before, they’d at least called each other.  Made sure the other was all right.  Made sure the other was going to come back.  

The fact that Cas hadn’t called convinced Dean more than anything else that he had screwed this up.  Cas didn’t want him anymore.  He didn’t even care that something could have happened to Dean.  He wasn’t looking for him.  

He succeeded in walking around the empty streets for almost two more hours when he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket.  

Dean’s heart flew to his throat.  

Cas

Cas was trying to find him.  Cas still cared.

But when Dean looked at the screen, it wasn’t Cas’s number.  It was an unknown caller.  Who the hell would call at four in the morning?

Dean slid his finger across the glass and answered, “Hello? Who is this?”

A warm voice with a slight midwestern twang filtered through the line, “Dean Winchester?”

“That’s me.”

“My name is Sheriff Jody Mills.  I’m calling from Lawrence Memorial Hospital on behalf of Castiel Novak.  There’s been an accident…”

Dean didn’t wait to hear the rest of what Sheriff Mills had to say.  His whole world froze.   _An accident.  Cas had been in an accident_.

And Cas hadn’t been able to call Dean himself.  

That was why Cas hadn’t called at all.

Dean broke into a run in the direction of the hospital.  He didn’t even notice when he dropped his phone on the pavement.  It lay forgotten behind him, its last message terrifying and unwanted.  

Dean had only gotten a block when his brain caught up with him.  The hospital wasn’t far, but it was on the other side of the river.  He wouldn’t be able to get there on foot.  Desperately, he looked around for a taxi, but the streets were empty.  Lawrence might be more than just a small town, but it wasn’t New York either. Cabbies didn’t hang out on side streets at this time of morning.  

Cursing, he backtracked to his apartment to grab his baby, hating every second that he was away from the hospital.  Away from Cas, not knowing if Cas…

No, Cas was alive.  He had to be.  Dean couldn’t contemplate another alternative.

God, he’d thought he’d lost Cas tonight because of his own stupidity.  Dean had thought that had hurt.

But for Cas to not be in this world? For Dean to not have a chance to make things right?

Because suddenly Dean knew he would have.  As little as he thought he deserved Cas, he knew how much he needed Cas.  And if there was anything he could do to convince Cas of that, to convince Cas that he wanted him, here, now, and always, he would do it.  Dean might not get _forever_ , but he was damn well going to fight for it.   

After what seemed like an age, Dean reached the impala and practically dove behind the driver’s seat.  He cast only the most cursory glance over his shoulder before peeling out onto the street.  

The early morning hour gave him the advantage.  There were hardly any other cars on the road and the smaller side streets had their lights flashing, limiting the number of times he was required to stop.  It still felt like an eternity to Dean, even if in reality it was only about fifteen minutes, before he pulled haphazardly into a spot, not even caring how well he’d parked or if his proximity to the car next to him might result in a scratch on his most prized possession when it’s owner tried to open their door.  

All he cared about at that moment was finding Cas and making sure he was all right.  

And shit, he had no idea where in the hospital Cas might be.  He ruled out the morgue almost subconsciously.   _Cas was not dead_.  

Not sure what else to do, he entered through the ER and made his way as rapidly as he could to the information desk, trying hard to tamp down his panic.  

“I - I’m looking for Cas.  Castiel Novak.  I got a message saying there was an accident.”

“Do you know when he was brought in?” the nurse behind the desk asked, not unkindly.  

Dean ran his hand through his hair, fighting back the bile in his throat and just trying to think past the _need_ to see Cas.

A voice sounded to his right, “Castiel Novak?  You’re Dean Winchester then?”

Dean turned towards the voice and saw a woman with a dark haired pixie cut, wearing a sheriff’s uniform.  Her fine boned features were clearly underlined by steel and Dean instinctively knew this was a woman he wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, for all that she was a good eight inches shorter than him.  

And now her gaze was turned on him hard and critical.  It softened when she took in the genuine fear on his face.  

“Sheriff Mills? Cas, is he, is Cas…,” Dean couldn’t choke out the rest of his question.

The sheriff’s expression changed entirely to one of sympathy at the quaking in Dean’s tone.  

“He’s fine.  Which you would know if you hadn’t dropped the call.”

Dean felt a wave of relief so big, he swayed in place as it rocked through him.  

Sheriff Mills stuck out her arm as though to catch him if he needed it and watched him closely as she continued.  “He’s got a broken arm.  Got sideswiped by a drunk driver.  His car’s a mess, but he was damn lucky.  He asked me to try and call you for a ride home while he was getting his arm set.  Didn’t seem sure you’d show.  Tell you the truth, the way you just hung up on me, I wasn’t so sure either.  Was gonna offer to take him myself.”

Dean flinched as though he’d been slapped.  Did Cas really think he wouldn’t come for him if he’d been hurt?  

“Where is he?  Can I see him? He’s really alright?”

The sheriff smiled at him for the first time.  “He’s fine.  Follow me, I’ll take you to him.”  

Dean followed her down the corridor to a series of curtained off exam stations.  She stopped in front of one with the curtains drawn completely closed and tilted her head towards them without speaking.  She smiled and winked before she turned around and walk in the direction of the front desk.

Taking a deep breath, Dean pulled back the curtains, still not believing till he saw with his own eyes that Cas was fine.  

And there, sitting on a bed that was really little more than a stretcher, was the man who had become the center of Dean’s world.  

Cas’s head was down and his shoulders were slumped in dejection.  His right hand cradled his left elbow, which was encased in a green plaster.  

Even though Sheriff Mills had assured him Cas was fine, this was the first moment Dean believed it.  He felt his knees weaken and from somewhere, he heard a broken voice whisper, “Cas.”

Cas’s head shot up and bloodshot eyes met his own.  Dean saw a flurry of emotions reflected in their blue depths ranging from surprise, to sadness to hope.  

Still needing more assurance that Cas was all right - aside from the arm - Dean stumbled forward, hands reaching out to cup his face.  

“Cas.  Cas.  Oh, God.  You’re ok?  Really?  Does your arm hurt? Can I get you anything? Have they given you any meds?”

Cas reached his good hand up to curl his fingers in with Dean’s where they lay gently against his cheek.  

“Dean.  You came.”

Dean felt another spike of hurt, but he supposed he deserved it.  “Of course I came.  God, Cas, I was so scared.  I thought… I didn’t know… Sheriff Mills said there was an accident.  I got here as fast as I could.”  Dean sank onto the edge of the bed, unable to hold himself up anymore, but equally unable to put any distance between himself and Cas.  

“I’m fine, Dean.  It’s just my arm.”

“What happened?” Dean asked, rubbing his thumb over Cas’s cheekbone.  Closer inspection revealed a few minor cuts as though from glass and a light bruise on his left temple.

Cas winced.  “Sideswiped by a drunk driver.  But it was partially my fault too.  I was trying to find you.  I thought at first you would come right back.  When you didn’t, I followed you out of the building, but you were already out of sight.  So I got in my car, and I was trying to call you.  I guess I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been.”

Dean blanched a little as he remembered the aborted phone call from Cas earlier in the evening.  

“Hey, that car we built held up pretty well if you walked away from that with just a broken arm, huh?  Guess we did something right,” Dean said, trying to calm the speed of his heart.  

Cas hesitated and looked down again, pulling Dean’s hands away from his face while he did so.  Dean’s heart clenched at the movement.  Cas had seemed to want Dean there, but was it just so he could officially end it in person?  It was a good thing Dean was already in a hospital, because he was pretty sure if those were the words about to come out of Cas’s mouth, they would kill him.  

“Dean, I’m so sorry.  For what I said.  That’s not what I meant,” Cas began.  

It wasn’t what Dean was expecting and he blinked once before responding.  “What?”

“About you not going to college.  I didn’t mean to imply you were stupid.  I just wanted to let you know it didn’t matter.  But I screwed up. I’m sorry.  We don’t have to go to the reunion if you don’t want to.  Hell, you can go to the reunion on your own.  It doesn’t matter.  But please, please don’t let us end over this.”  

“God, Cas, I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have made such a big deal out of it.  I didn’t think you could see me as long term.  I was stupid. I don’t want us to end over this either.”  
Cas looked back up at him, eyes searching Dean’s as though trying to gauge if Dean was telling him the truth.

“But I don’t want to take you to the reunion as my boyfriend.”

Hurt and pain that had nothing to do with Cas’s injuries flashed through the blue eyes in front of Dean and Dean could feel Cas recoiling beneath him.  So he reached out and placed a hand on Cas’s neck, forcing him to stay in place and look up at Dean.  

“I want to take you as my husband, Cas.”

Cas went unnaturally still beneath his touch and Dean was pretty sure he’d stopped breathing as he waited for Cas’s response.  

There was a pause of five heartbeats before Cas’s face broke into an enormous smile.

“Are you proposing to me, Dean Winchester?”

“Hell yes I am, Castiel Novak.  I’d already figured out before the Sheriff called that I needed you, that I want you in my life forever. Marriage seems the most logical way to accomplish that.”  In a sudden fit of nerves, he added, “If you want me of course.”

If it was possible, Cas’s grin grew even wider.  

“There’s nothing I want more, Dean.”

Dean felt something warm and _right_ settle in his gut as he leaned over to kiss Cas, sealing the promise.  

“Dean?” Cas asked when they broke apart.

“Yeah?” Dean breathed against Cas’s mouth, not wanting to pull too far away.

“Take me home.”

* * *

Eight months later, Dean tugged on the cuffs of his solid button up, nerves ratcheting higher as he thought about facing his former classmates.   

Fingers entwined with his own as Cas pulled Dean’s hand to his face, gently kissing the ring that had now graced his hand for a full month.  “There’s still time to change your mind, Dean.  We don’t have to go.”

Dean flashed his husband a smile.  “And miss the chance to show off the gorgeous piece of ass that I managed to catch?  Hell no.”

Cas huffed a laugh and yanked Dean around by his belt loop.  “Yeah, well, you’re not so bad yourself mister.  For the record? These jeans make your butt look fantastic.” Reaching up slightly, he placed a firm kiss against Dean’s mouth before pulling back and looking him squarely in the eye.  

“You are not the same person you were then.  You have always been smart, even if you didn’t follow a traditional path.  Now you are successful and you have a job you love.  You already proved these people wrong fifteen years ago by graduating at all.  Let’s go prove them wrong now about how your life turned out.”  

**Dean smiled and pulled Cas in for another kiss.  “I already have.”**


End file.
